Reminding the BJP leadership of its much touted slogans of probity and morality in public life which were sold by it with a big splash earning it huge dividends in recent elections, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP and former Minister has questioned the egregious silence of the party in the wake of persistent acts of impropriety being committed by its Ministers in the state. He said that blatant violations of codel formalities, circumvention of prescribed tendering procedures, defiance of the ‘financial code’ and of ‘Book of financial powers’, disregard of the “Govt. Business Rules” and of “Manual of secretariat Procedures” besides large scale abuse of public exchequer for personal motives and in violation of Austerity measures has become a routine feature with the 8 months old govt.
having earned the most dubious distinction for omissions and commissions and leakages and pilferages.Mr. Harsh Dev Singh said that thousands of transfers effected pre-maturely in the various govt. deptts. including Forests, Social Welfare, Health, Power etc. without assigning any reasons as mandated under the transfer policy and appointment of favourites and relations in various Boards, commissions, corporations and societies had further dented the credibility of the govt. with several Ministers having been publically exposed for having effected such transfers and appointments for extraneous considerations. He said that large scale encroachments of State Lands and forest lands by the ruling Ministers had also largely disfigured the image of the govt. He added that the recent disclosure regarding the allotments of 700 crores power project to an unknown and inexperienced private company and that too without inviting tenders and without fulfilling the Codel formalities at exorbitant rates had fully spilled the beans and completely torn to tatters the treacherous cloak of probity worn by the Saffron Party.
He said that the Power Procurement agreement (PPA) which was a scam of gargantuan proportion and was expected to touch 1000 crore eventually, was the most sensational addition in the most traumatic phases of scandals that occurred during the recent past.Mr. Singh said that by indulging in large scale violations of financial code as well as the laws and prevalent norms and procedures, the BJP Ministers had proved that the scams were not the monopoly of Congress alone. He said that large scale violations of legal stipulations and prescribed procedures had exposed several Ministers who were indulging a conduct of public life for private advantage. Expressing grave concern over thousands of pre mature transfers effected during the last 8 months in defiance of the transfer policy for extraneous considerations, Mr. Singh said that preaching morality was one thing and practicing it quite another. Seeking a probe into all the orders issued by the BJP Ministers in violations of norms, Mr. Singh said that the recent agitations and public unrest in Jammu represented the peoples’ desperation for a fair deal, for transparency, for accountability and for good governance.